Initiative in Washington State to drive away more businesses

Tools

Expect a push to seek voter approval in November for an income tax that hits couples earning more than $400,000 a year.

Bill Gates Sr. and others are expected to announce an effort Wednesday to put Initiative 1077 on the ballot.

The group would need to collect the signatures of at least 241,153 registered voters by July 2 to qualify for the ballot.

Currently, Washington State has no income tax at all.

There’s a hidden danger in the idea of making a cash cow out of a very small segment of the population, instead of taxing people on a broad-based and more-or-less fair footing. It’s easy enough to soak high-income earners, but then, suddenly, they start making decisions based on your folly.

Small business owners start saying things like, “Probably not worth taking the risk of expanding.” If they’re small enough to escape ObamaCare’s grip, they might say, “Let’s drop our health coverage.” Or even, “Let’s move out of state.”

Depending on the details, that sometimes goes for big businesses, too.

About The Author

Bio:David Freddoso came to the Washington Examiner in June 2009, after serving for nearly two years as a Capitol Hill-based staff reporter for National Review Online.
Before writing his New York Times bestselling book, The Case Against Barack Obama, he spent three years assisting Robert Novak, the legendary Washington...

David Freddoso came to the Washington Examiner in June 2009, after serving for nearly two years as a Capitol Hill-based staff reporter for National Review Online.

Before writing his New York Times bestselling book, The Case Against Barack Obama, he spent three years assisting Robert Novak, the legendary Washington columnist. Freddoso arrived in Washington in late 2001 and began covering Capitol Hill for the conservative weekly newspaper Human Events.